10th Anniversary of the Sri Lankan Massacre

As we approach the 10th anniversary of the massacre of the
Tamil people at the hands of the Sri Lankan military, it is
time for us to finally stand in solidarity with the tens of
thousands killed in the most gruesome way during 138 days of
constant shelling by the Sri Lankan forces within that
government’s established “No Fire Zones”.

One
documentary which helps with the understanding of the
reality of the genocide in Sri Lanka is ‘No Fire Zone’
produced by Zoe Sale in 2013 and subsequently updated in
2015: https://nofirezone.org/watch

The film
starts with a powerful scene of UN personnel evacuating the
Tamil city of Kiillnochchi at the instruction of their
bosses. The local people, knowing full well what was on the
horizon for them, beg the UN to stay. The Sri Lankan
government desperate to take over the Tamil Tigers
controlled areas (in the north and east of the country)
declared different areas as No Fire Zones. Each time an
area was declared as a No Fire Zone (supposedly for the
civilian population to move to and be safe), hundreds of
thousands of people would be on the move to take shelter
only to find out they were directly targeted, shelled and
killed in these zones. Wikileaks cables are specifically
pointing to the fact that the American government was fully
aware of these massacres and continued supporting the Sri
Lankan government by accepting their lies that no civilians
were being killed.

The film contains brutal and extremely
graphic scenes of civilians being murdered. Tamil women were
raped and stripped naked either before or after their death
by soldiers. Many hospitals were intentionally bombed after
the International Red Cross had communicated their location
to the Sri Lankan government supposedly to ensure they
wouldn’t be bombed. Medical supplies were cut off. All the
gruesome footage had been fully verified by experts. It was
a genocide of the Tamil minority group in Sri Lanka by their
own countrymen.

The film is of course very informative;
however, it repeated over and over that what happened to the
Tamils in Sri Lanka was against International Law and
amounted to war crimes. Unfortunately, we live in a world
where such terms as breach of ‘International Law’ or
‘War crimes’ do not mean much anymore, these terms have
been normalised. Breaching ‘International Law’ and the
committing of ‘War Crimes’ takes place regularly,
perpetrated by different states. It’s becoming clear that
those who commit such atrocities either have a lot of power
at the UN themselves or have friends with Veto power. They
are usually not signatories to the International Criminal
Court. Therefore, there is no easy way to hold such states
accountable for what they’ve done. There was a time that
committing a war crime was frowned upon, but unfortunately
not anymore. What happened in Sri Lanka should be called out
for what it was, brutal murder of a people, a genocide.
Countries whose vested interests lie in having a corrupt
state in power in Sri Lanka, of course, are not going to
call it a genocide. After all, many of these states are
doing small or large acts of brutality against minorities
within their own borders. If they come across as standing
for minority groups in other countries, they may need to do
the same back home. Although these killings have happened
and are well documented, countries such as Australia and the
United States continue supporting the Sri Lankan government
in covering up what they did and remain complicit in this
genocide for their own interest.

Tamil people are still
systematically oppressed and hugely discriminated against by
the Sri Lankan government. Monuments celebrating the Sri
Lankan government’s victory over the Tamils have been
erected on land which has been historically populated by the
Tamils. Their land has been confiscated by the army and a
large tourism industry is being run by the Sri Lankan
military in the places that Tamils once lived. Many post-war
actions by the Government have worked to ensure that Tamils
don’t feel safe and secure in their own country now. The
Australian government continues to deport Tamil refugees
back to Sri Lanka when they know perfectly well that they
will be in danger. It is rare that political refugees are
ever welcome back in their country of origin. Usually they
are heavily punished for leaving and tarnishing the
reputation of the current regime by exposing their dark
secrets.

The film also mentioned the failure of the
international community to intervene, let’s not forget,
the last time the international community intervened in a
meaningful way was a very long time ago. What makes us think
that the UN or the international community are suddenly
going to change and step in to protect people from being
killed? It’s not in the interest of the international
community to prevent genocide or massacres from happening
anymore. It appears that the international community is busy
earning profit from wars. Many countries sold weapons to the
Sri Lankan government; were complicit in covering up what
that government was doing; and supported its lies.

It is
time to finally question anything that the Sri Lankan
government and their friends have been telling the world
over the past decade. There are a lot of stories coming out
of Sri Lanka that the government is tightening its grip over
its people by heavily increasing its military presence
across the country. They are using the Easter massacres in
Sri Lanka as an excuse to restrict movement and activities.
We need to question such actions of a government who has a
history of oppression and violence against its minority
groups. How much more will the people’s civil liberties be
eroded in the name of national security?

Scoop Citizen Members and ScoopPro Organisations are the lifeblood of Scoop.

20 years of independent publishing is a milestone, but your support is essential to keep Scoop thriving. We are building on our offering with new In-depth Engaged Journalism platform - thedig.nz.
Find out more and join us:

ALSO:

The Prime Minister has briefed Cabinet colleagues that the government will bring forward an ambitious new legislative programme for MPs’ approval, and that the current parliamentary session will be brought to an end. More>>

ALSO:

Traditionally, communiques capture the consensus reached at the meeting. In this case, the division on display between Australia and the Pacific meant the only commitment is to commission yet another report into what action needs to be taken. More>>